Iran says it gave long-sought answers to United Nations atomic watchdog
The Hindu
The head of Iran's civilian Atomic Energy Organisation said Iran had sent the explanations about several former undeclared sites where there was evidence of past nuclear activity
Iran, on April 6, said it supplied the United Nations' nuclear watchdog with documents explaining the discovery of suspect enriched uranium traces, state media reported, the first acknowledgement from Tehran that it had answered the agency's long-standing demands.
The head of Iran's civilian Atomic Energy Organisation, Mohammad Eslami, said that on March 20, Iran had sent the requested explanations about several former undeclared sites in Iran where there was evidence of past nuclear activity. The deadline came as part of an agreement announced last month to resolve the problem of undeclared uranium particles in Iran by June — long a source of tension between Tehran and the UN atomic watchdog.
The thorny issue is separate from now-stalled talks to revive Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, which collapsed four years ago when former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the accord and imposed crushing sanctions on Iran. In the meantime, Iran has vastly expanded its nuclear work.
As the fate of a renewed nuclear deal hangs in the balance, long-sought answers about Iran's old but undeclared nuclear sites would improve trust and solve a major sticking point in its negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Mr. Eslami's statement.
Mr. Eslami told reporters that Iran had handed over documents to the UN watchdog about the three requested sites in Iran, without elaborating. He expected agency inspectors to visit Iran “to review the answers" and finish a report on the subject by late June, he added.
The IAEA in 2019 first discovered the traces of man-made uranium that suggested they were once connected to Iran's nuclear programme. The U.S. intelligence agencies, Western nations and the IAEA have said Iran ran an organised nuclear weapons programme until 2003. Iran long has denied ever seeking nuclear weapons.
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